Improvement in methods and apparatus for producing ice



D. L. HOLDEN.. Method and Apparatus for Producing Ice.:

. Patented July 2, 1878.

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N.PETERS. PNOTO-UHDGRAFHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

NTTED STATES PATENT FFTCE.

DANIEL L. HOLDEN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING ICE.

Specification forming part ol" Letters Patent No. 205,643, dated July 1878; application led May l0, LETS.

To all lwhom it may concern:

Beit known that I, DANIEL L. HOLDEN, of the city and county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Ice-Machines; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part 'of this specilication, in which- Figure 1 is a vertical transverse section. Fig. 2 is a side view of a part of the tank, with one end in vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 3 is a plan view, showing both ends of tank, with a part of the middle broken away for want of space.

This invention is an improvement upon that feature of an ice-machine known as the congealer, or compartment in which the freezing ofthe water is eifected by iinmersing the cans in a non-congealable fluid whose temperature is reduced below the freezing-point.

The improvement consists in the particular construction and arrangement of a longitudiii-al tank for the non-congealable huid, havin g rails upon the side, which support wheeled carriers containing pendent cans, which cans are filled with water and immersed in a refrigerated non-congealable fluid, and which carriers, with the cans, abut against veach other on traversing the rails within the tank placed above the level of the fluid, and are separately lifted out the end doors.

The invention also consists in the method of introducing the cans containing the water into the end of the tank whence the non-congealable fluid is discharged, and then feeding them gradually toward the end of the tank at 'which the non-congealable fluid enters, where the cold is most intense, by which means the air is expelled from the water, the freezing of the same more gradually effected, and the ice is made clear and solid, instead of white and snowy; as when it is suddenly crystallized with more or less air in the same.

This method also apportions the degree of cold of the non-congealable fluid to the work to be performed in freezing the waterthat is to say, the least degree of cold is utilized for freezing the first film of ice, and the greatest degree of cold utilized for freezing the water in the central portion of the can, where it has to operate through a thickness of ice already formed.

In the drawing, A represents the tank, made of any suitable size and length, and well insulated or incased with a packing of some poor conductor of heat. Said case isprovided at one end with an inlet, a, Fig. 3, and at the opposite end with an outlet, b. These connections are arranged in communication with the refrigerator of an' ice-1n achine, and through them a iion-congealable fluid, refrigerated by the ice-machine. is made to traverse the tank.

Upon the inner sides of the tank, near the top, are fixed rails c c, upon which travel wheeled carriers B. These carriers consist of frames equaling in length the tranverse dimensions of the tank, which frames are Vprovided with xed or removable cans C, depending from the frame so as to be immersed in the non-congealable fluid. These cans are designed to contain the water that is to be frozen, and a series of them may be arranged together in one frame, or one continuous receptacle may be employed instead. To facilitate the removal of the blocks of ice, these cans are made a little tapering, the largest end beingA at the top.

At each end of the upper surface of the tank is hinged a door, D, throii gh one of which the carriers are inserted, and through the other of which they are removed. Now, the cans of the carriers being filled with water, and the carriers placed in the tank with their rollers resting upon the rails, the method of manipulation and action'of freezing will be as follows:

The non-congealable iiuid enters at a at its lowest teinperature-at zero, for instanceand in passing to the other end absorbs a part of the heat of the water in the cans to freeze it, thus losing a part of its cold and rising to a temperature of 320, for instance. Now, as the water in the cans of the carrier first introduced becomes frozen, the said carrier is taken ont at the end a where the cold iiuid enters, and is transferred to the opposite end of the tank, to be relieved of s its burden and refilled with water. This transfer is effected by a traveling crane running upon suspended rails, or by any other suitable means.

To relieve the cans of their blocks of ice, they are lowered for a few seconds into a warm bath to loosen the blocks, and the latter then withdrawn. The cans in the tank are then moved up along the rails toward thc colder end of the tank, in order to fill up the vacancy made by the removal of the first and to give place for the set of cans just emptied.

This movement of the carriers up along the rails may be eiected by any mechanical means; but I prefer to use the device shown, which consists of a shaft, d, having hand-wheels e c and pinions f f, which piuions engage with racks g g, which, from the revolution of the shaft, press against the nearest carrier and urge the whole along the rails.

By introducing` the freshly-filled cans at the outlet end of the tank for the non-congealable liquid important advantages are secured. In the rst place, the freezing is e'ected gradually, so that the ice formed is clear, transparent, and free from air-bubbles, instead of being white and snowy in appearance, as is the case when frozen rapidly. Furthermore, when introduced at the point of least cold and gradually fed to the point of greatest cold, the small degree of cold is utilized at a time when it can readily operate upon the water through the sides of the can, while the greatest cold is utilized at a time and place where great cold is required to operate through the film of ice already formed to freeze the interior of the can.

The economy of this method of manipulation is obvious. The newly-filled cans enter liquid of a temperature of 320, for instance, where a iilm of ice at once forms, and, as they gradually move forward they are subjected to a greater degree of cold as the ice-film thickens, until, inally, they reach the coldest point, where the warmth of the remaining uncongealed water has to be extracted through the greatest thickness of ice.

Vith respect to the construction of my tank,

I ain aware that receptacles for containing a cold non-con gealable fluid have been immersed in a tank containing the water to be frozen, and that such receptacles have been supported upon side rails in the tank by means of rollers so as to permit a degree of movement; but as these receptacles for non-congealable fluid must have pipe-connections for the entrance and discharge of the nou-congealable fluid, the movement of such receptacles on the rails is limited, and the idea of traversing the rail is not only not contemplated, but is not capable of being carried out by reason of the pipe-connections. In view of this arrange ment, however, I limit my invention to the tank having doors on its upper surface at each end, and rails, as described, combined with disconnected and removable carriers for the cans, adapted to abut against each other in traversing the rail, and be separately inserted and lifted out at the end doors.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new isl. The tank having side rails near the top and doors upon its upper surface at each end, in combination with a set of disconnected carriers provided with cans and means for advancing the same, whereby the carriers are made to abut against each other in traversing the tank and be separately inserted and removed at the ends, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The method of freezing water in cans, which consists in immersing the cans containing the water in a current of non-congealable fiuid reduced below the freezing-point, and feeding them gradually from the discharge end, or point of least cold, to the inletend, or point of greatest cold, substantially as and for the purpose described.

D. L. HOLDEN.

Witnesses:

EDWD. W. BYRN, liras. A. Pnfr'rir. 

